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Code Your Heart Out: Coding Competition

Recently, 14 members of the GPS Computer Science Club hosted 23 GPS middle school students and 13 students from area schools for the first ever Code Your Heart Out: GPS Coding Competition.
Recently, 14 members of the GPS Computer Science Club hosted 23 GPS middle school students and 13 students from area schools for the first ever Code Your Heart Out: GPS Coding Competition. Hosts and participants gathered on a Saturday morning to kick off a day of problem solving, snacking, and fun. 
 
Club President Abby Glass gave the participants the challenge of identifying a problem in their school and creating a Scratch Public Service Announcement or Game to address the issue. With partners, the girls began work in the GPS Middle School Computer Science Lab to begin work coding solutions to their problems. 
 
Thanks to the newly remodeled lab and mobile tables, the CS Club was able to arrange the room to easily accommodate 36 girls working in pairs and the 14 upper school girls mentoring them.

After two 90-minute work sessions, interrupted by games on the front lawn and lunch, all teams were able to complete their Scratch PSAs or games and then celebrated with a Code Your Heart Out cake! 
 
The parents arrived later to watch the teams present their Scratch solutions for problems that ranged from messy tables in the cafeteria to girls standing on the stairway blocking traffic between classes. 
 
Computer Science teachers Karen Richards said, “There was such a happy energy in the lab, and it was so impressive to see what each team was able to accomplish in just three hours of programming!” While the Club members stepped away to deliberate and select the winners, participants met Jimmy BrusierBot, GPS’s NAO robot, and gave a short demo of how to program the robot. 
 
Computer Science Department Chair Jill Pieritz said, “This activity was a great chance for upper school, middle school, and prospective students to spend a day together doing something they all love – working together to come up with ways to solve problems. That’s what Computer Science is all about. Using your power for good.”
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